A Rare Discovery
by Florina of Ilia
Summary: Noctis finds a new friend, on another errand for his father. Why did this have to happen to the poor heir? A Short friendship story on how they could've met.


Short story, yeah, but I just had to write this! I don't own Final Fantasy Versus XIII, or the characters. ^^

* * *

It was just another day in the life of Noctis Lucis Caelum.

Like every day, he had to study, stay fit, and look not at the slightest bit ruffled by all of it. But there was always something he never found, something that even eluded _him._

And this irritated him to the point of true anger at times, but he never voiced it. After all, what would Ignis think if he saw the young Prince yelling out to nobody, or flipping random objects for no reason?

Mental hospital. Or he'd be extremely worried and report it to his father. Both options were b-

A voice broke through his train of thought. "Prince Noctis!"

"Huh? What?"

Gladiolus, his bodyguard, sighed. "I've been calling you for a while now; are you sure you're okay?" He asked, with a face between worry and amusement. Who knew what was on his mind?

"I'm fine," Noctis scoffed. "Why wouldn't I be? Anyways, we should get going."

Today, was after all, a Saturday. So no learning. But on the downside...he had to do errands for his father; he was the King at this time, and doing things for him was one of the tasks on a somewhat long list of things he hated. He was a Prince! He shouldn't be doing things like this, least of all...

Shopping. What the hell. And why did he need a bodyguard, anyways? He was capable of doing things like this! Didn't his father trust him?

Zooming back to reality, Noctis and Gladiolus exited the store -it looked somewhat out of place- they were in, and the prince was carrying a small parcel in which his father requested him to get. He didn't really know why, and honestly didn't care, but his father told him to make sure it was safe, and not to look inside under any circumstances. They were in the poorer parts of the kingdom, and his expensive clothes and bodyguard drew some unwanted attention to him, despite his attempts to look normal, which made him a little more than self-conscious, with all the stares and the hushed whispers.

Well, of course they would recognize him too. He was their prince. He soon decided that the parcel might get damaged should the small group become a crowd, and dragged Gladiolus through various alleyways to try and lose them.

Unfortunately, Noctis' information of these parts were really, _quite bad_, and his mental map of the district was dotted with many holes.

And before long, they were surrounded by a bunch of men holding small pocketknives. Noctis counted twelve men that had circled them. He and Gladiolus could usually take on this much with their extensive martial arts training, but with the parcel, it could get damaged during the fight, and that would waste all the time of getting here, waiting in line -it was surprisingly long- , and getting back, and even the hassle of avoiding attention throughout the trip would be wasted.

"Give us your money, and we'll make sure you leave without a scratch, y'hear?" The biggest -and probably the leader- growled with a grin.

He was pretty sure if he gave them a few thousand gil, they would leave them alone, but before he could do so, Gladiolus had to make things _much _harder for the poor, irritated prince by opening his mouth and uttering two words. The prince cursed under his breath.

"Hell no." He said, fixing them with a firm glare. The leader motioned at them, and the other gang members edged closer to them. Gladiolus responded with a quick punch at one of thugs.

And thus, the fight started.

Noctis had no choice but to fight, as the men dived towards him, so he kicked one in the chin, and quickly slugged another with a punch. The parcel inhibited his fighting skills, and it seemed the gang picked up on this, since five of them immediately circled him. Looking behind them, Noctis saw Gladiolus being overpowered by the seven men who all tackled at him at once. The situation looked pretty bad, and he was half-tempted to just ditch the parcel and go back to the store and get another, even though he was sure his father would worry.

A resounding _bang _changed that, as he turned around to the source of the noise, and saw a slender-built man with blond, messy hair holding a shotgun.

A shotgun. Those were banned in the kingdom, so why did that man have one? Regardless of the moment, one of the five men circling Noctis fell down, dead. Four more _bangs_ rang through the air, and the men surrounding Noctis were now laying on the ground, red pools were formed on the dirt. Before he could give the mysterious sharpshooter a 'thank you', the blond went and smacked one of the gang members circling Gladiolus in the head at a surprising speed, and with that momentum he shot another. The gang members, seeing they were outmatched, ran away from the trio.

Finally, Noctis had his chance to thank him as he lifted Gladiolus up, who had various cuts and bruises, and a knife in his calf. That would hurt for a while.

"Uh...hey, thanks for that," He said uncertainly to the blond. "But...you do realize those," he gestured to the shotgun, "are illegal here, right?" While he was saying this, the prince realized that this man must've been from Tenebrae, our neighbouring country and one of the countries who've traded their crystal to get the powerful firearms. Even then, to Noctis, this man had _something _that set him apart from other men, something that made him feel unusually relaxed when they were around him. In his lifetime, most people his age often expected him to act proper and formal, so this was something different for him.

In reply to the comment, the blond only shrugged. "Well, if you don't tell, then there's no trouble, right? So don't tell, alright?" He had a grin plastered on, despite carrying illegal weapons, and Noctis couldn't help to smile a little. However, his mind went back to the parcel, and checking it, was relieved it wasn't damaged in the fight.

"Uh, anyways...um..." Noctis stuttered without thinking, forgetting that he didn't know the blonds' name. '_Shoot, you don't just ask some random guy who could be a possible fugitive from Tenebrae!' _he thought to himself, but before he could mentally slap himself, he was a bit taken aback by the blonds' answer.

"Oh, I'm Prompto. Ah, well, do you guys need any help to get to, well, wherever you were going?" The man named Prompto asked, probably sensing Noctis' anxiety. The prince was pretty sure that Gladiolus was going to decline the offer, but taking this chance to possibly repay the man, Noctis interrupted Gladiolus' decline with a quick 'Sure, why not?', leaving a wide-eyed and worried Gladiolus pondering on what his friend could be thinking.

In his mind, a small part of Noctis didn't want the blond to leave. The way he could feel relaxed around him felt new to him, but at the same time, it was something he enjoyed, because he felt that soon enough, he could finally be himself.

* * *

And that's that! Well, unless you want the epilogue...=D Ehehe...

* * *

-An hour later...-

Noctis, Gladiolus and Prompto finally reached the gate of the estate at which the prince's father was staying at the time. Noctis, knowing that Prompto couldn't go any farther with the shotgun, told him to wait outside, and to keep the gun out of sight. The blond half-reluctantly agreed, hiding his gun and watched as his new acquaintances entered the building from afar. During their walk back, Prompto had somewhat openly explained his origins, in a fear that'd they'd call the military on him. '_Well, then again, they might've done that anyways.' _he thought to himself, as he had a hand ready to grab his shotgun, should the army show up. _But the prince, Noctis; he seems interesting enough for me to stick around for a bit. _he concluded on his thoughts of the heir.

Inside, Noctis took a quick glance back at his friend before the door closed shut, then proceeded to his father's room, while Gladiolus flopped on the couch in the huge living room, despite the maids' gasps of the blood dripping from his leg. Only walking a few steps, he saw his father, who immediately rushed to him.

"Do you have the parcel?" King Caelum asked his son hurriedly. Giving it to his father, Noctis had only replied with a sarcastic: "Uh, yeah, I do, and hello father, nice to see you too."

Although what shocked the prince the most was what was inside the box. Something that made him mentally face palm.

Hair dye. Freaking **_hair dye._**

His father didn't seem to notice his son's exasperated face as he walked away to his room, and when Gladiolus took a peek at what was going on, he started laughing. However, it was quickly stifled with a single glare from Noctis.

The prince had to get revenge. He wasted an entire _three hours _just to get his father _hair dye. _Something that he could've gotten nearby and without much effort, but he had told him to go to that specific store in that specific area.

You could say Noctis had added his father to his 'List of Things I Hate', and placed him at the top of the list at that moment. Storming out the house, he was a little happy to see that Prompto had not left.

"Say, have you ever pulled pranks before?" the prince asked him.

"Yeah, of course! Why?" Prompto replied, a bit confused to the sudden question and anger that was on Noctis' face.

"Well, mind helping me out with something?" He asked Prompto. Again, he could feel himself relax and his anger dissipate when talking to him. _Could this be what I've searching for this entire time?_ _Someone like him?_

After all, since he was a prince, most people at school were a bit afraid to get close to him, which ended up with a somewhat lonely Noctis during his education years. But on more important matters...

He would get his father back, if it was the last thing he did. He was _never _going to make him do silly errands like that ever again. And he would have his new friend help in any way he can, because the heir was sure that their friendship would last.

Looping his arm around Noctis, Prompto had only grinned and said: "Tell me what you've got in mind."

-And inside the estate...-

King Caelum felt a shiver go down his spine. Quickly looking around, he suspected nothing as he put more hair dye on his hair, hiding all the gray hairs that accumulated on his head, and was happy to see its desired effect, as all the grays quickly disappeared. After all, this was the best dye in the kingdom, and he wanted quick results, even though he didn't have any reason to be in such a hurry anyways.

* * *

So how was that? Good? Bad? Needs another chapter? R&R people! =D


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